GDC's alternative arcade: a gallery of crazy, homemade game controllers

The idea of the gamepad is so entrenched in our mind, it's easy to forget that there are other ways to play video games. No, we're not talking about the PC gamer's keyboard and mouse, or even the traditional arcade stick -- but custom, purpose built controllers made to augment a specific experience. At GDC 2014, we found an interactive gallery full of them. The event, Alt.Ctrl.GDC serves as a showcase for indie game experiences that aren't fully accessible without specialized hardware, but to us, it was simply an alternative arcade of creativity.

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Sony shows (and tells) us why 4K on a phone isn't crazy

At Sony Mobile's HQ in Tokyo, Kichiro Kurozumi is itching to go into detail about the new flagship Xperia Z2. The VP says it's "all in the details." We really hope so, because it's getting increasingly hard to tell Sony's recent smartphone iterations apart, especially when it comes to the Xperia Z2 and Z1. Kurozumi emphatically states that it's all the work done behind the scenes (reengineered frame, a 20.7-megapixel camera that records in 4K) that makes the Z2 stand out. "2014 is about premium smartphones, tablets and the smartwear experience but we... Sony has to do it differently."

Take the Xperia Z2's 4K-recording camera sensor. Sony's certainly not the only smartphone maker with a device capable of recording video in Ultra HD, but Kurozumi reckons the company's software-based "SteadyShot" stabilization keeps the Xperia Z2 ahead of the pack. Because of the relatively large camera sensor, it can compensate for more movement than its rivals -- up to 21 percent. He offers up a professional-level clip and his own real-world sample from a few weeks earlier in Barcelona, and (courtesy of a 4K Sony TV in the room) the level of detail is noticeably beyond that of 1080p video, but won't the lack of 4K screens (UHD TVs are still pretty rare) limit the usefulness? We asked Kurozumi exactly that.

No surprises -- the Sony exec didn't see it that way:

"There's no dependency on 4K TVs.

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